NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS | Day 4

TrackTown, USA: The weather was not
promising, but we did not need to be to Historic Hayward Field until late
afternoon, so Dave, Steve, Mary and I drove up to the
King Estate for a
lovely relaxing lunch. We had a walk around the property and were luckily in the
dining room by the time the sky opened to a torrential downpour.

Ed King and the King Estate winery have been very generous
supporters of The One True Sport for many years. King Estate hosted events for
the Olympic Trials in
2008 and
2016. The King Estate Vineyard is
situated about 30 miles outside Eugene in a spectacular hilly setting. The
property is not only a working vineyard, but has a restaurant and spaces for
events large and small. The views! The landscaping! The Pinot Gris!

Steve and I ordered the wild-caught salmon in a green
pea/mint puree with wild mushrooms, asparagus and potato gnocchi - garnished
with pea shoots. Wow!

DT, Mary and Steve at the beautiful King Estate Vineyard

As I said, we saw/heard a terrible storm during our meal. The
sky grew black and it rained so hard, gallons of water were cascading off the
roof in a spectacular show of Mother Nature. (Mary and I quietly sipped King
Estate bubbly during the shower.)

By the time we returned to Eugene and walked to the track, the
sky was merely threatening, but we learned we had just missed a big hail storm
at Historic Hayward Field.
One thing not welcome at a track meet (where athletes are throwing metal spears,
balls, discs, pole vaulting and running through steeplechase water hazards) is lightning.

Rain, rain, go away.

The events progressed over the evening. The Ducks were looking very good to
win the NCAA title. Then disaster struck when junior sprint sensation Deajah
Stevens stumbled just a few feet from the 200m finish line. Stevens tripped,
fell, and - splat - did not finish her race. She was later officially
disqualified. The entire stadium fell silent. Everyone was doing math-like-mad
in their heads, figuring if this meant the Ducks could no longer win the
championship title. Oregon sophomore Ariana Washington (who won the 200m final last year) finished
in second place in 22.39. Kyra Jefferson, Florida senior, won the race in 22.02.
FAST.

And... at the 800m finish.. Ms. Rogers smoked the field. Wearing a strand of
pearls, by the way.

As it often happens, the entire fate of the championship came down to
the final event, the 4x400m relay. The Ducks had to win the relay to win the
meet. Seems simple enough, but the relay is a whole-nother beast.
As seen from yesterday's hand-off photos, anything can happen. The hand-off zone
is a crazy mess of confusion and it all happens so fast! Batons can be dropped.
Passes can not be accomplished within the permitted space. Racers can trip.
These horrible things happen just as often in high school track meets as
in Olympic finals. There is no rhyme or reason to the mystery of the relay race.

A brief re-cap of the 4x400m relay in hand-off photos:

In the Green & Yellow: first leg Makenzie Dunmore hands-off to Deajah
Stevens
(in braids, who had fallen just a few minutes earlier in the 200m final!).

Deajah Stevens hands off to Elexis Guster

Elexis Guster to Raevyn Rogers

Note how close USC's Kendall Ellis (hip 4) is to Ms. Rogers! The two
women fought a crazy-fast battle for one last lap around the track, with Raevyn
Rogers blasting past Ms. Ellis on the back curve and powering to remain in front
of the talented USC sprinter and lead the Ducks to an amazing victory. The crowd
erupted!

So close!

It was a very close race, but the Ducks won in 3 minutes, 23.13
seconds. It was a NCAA record, NCAA championship record and Hayward Field record
time!

Not only did they WIN - the Women of Oregon became the first school to ever win
the Triple Crown by capturing the national cross country, indoor and outdoor
track and field titles in a single season. What an amazing group of women.

I would love to tell you about how we stuck around for the
victory ceremony and celebrated with the team and coaches... except about five
minutes after the 4x400 finish, the stadium was evacuated due to a terrible lightning
storm. Evacuated! Steve and Mary evacuated to their car and drove back to
Portland. Dave and I evacuated to the law school building across the street from
the track (it is a brick building and we felt safe... and it was super quiet
with diligent law students prior to finals). After the storm calmed, we walked back
to our hotel after learning there would be no medal ceremony. The awards were
simply handed-out to the athletes so they could all get to safety quickly.

Anti-climatic ending to a very exciting day. No matter. The Ducks won the meet
and captured the Triple Crown. Hayward Field magic, once again.

I apologize for my passionate use of exclamation points in this column.

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"It's a semi-true story, believe it or not.
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